This Week in Music History

October 11th, 1989 – Michael Jackson attends a ceremony for the opening of the Michael Jackson Auditorium at his former elementary school in Hollywood, California. In 2003, when Jackson was on trial for suspicion of child molestation, and at the request of angry parents, school officials covered up Jackson’s name, leaving only “Auditorium” showing.

October 12th, 1994 – Pink Floyd plays the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band started playing ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, scaffolding holding 1200 fans, collapsed, dropping hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Pink Floyd sent a free T-shirt and a note of apology to all the fans who had been seated in the stand that collapsed.

October 13th, 1965 – The Who record ‘My Generation’ at Pye studios in London. The single would almost be a chart topper when released, however it was held off of hitting the No.1 position by The Seekers‘ ‘The Carnival Is Over’. As for the stuttering, singer Roger Daltrey would later say that he stuttered the lyrics to try and match them to the music. Initially the BBC refused to play the song in fear of offending stutterers.

October 14th, 1957 – Elvis Presley releases, ‘Jailhouse Rock’ which would become his 9th number one single and stay on the Billboard chart for 19 weeks. He is credited with having the first rock n roll video with this song in the film clip from the movie of the same name.

October 15th, 1973 – Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones is found guilty of trafficking marijuana in France. He is given a one year suspended sentence, fined 5,000 francs, and barred from entering the country for two years.

October 16th, 1972 – Creedence Clearwater Revival breaks up today. It would be eight years until John Fogarty would find solo success with his two hits, ‘Center Field,’ and ‘Rock and Roll Girl’ in 1980.

October 17th, 1970 – The Jackson Five start a five-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with ‘I’ll Be There’. It was the their 4th hit that year, and by year’s end, Motown Records reported they had sold over 10 million records.